Personalization of a security and/or valuable document is a process, wherein personalized information, i.e. individual information for a certain person, which is intended as being about the holder or owner of the security and/or valuable document (for instance picture information, such as passport photograph, finger print etc; sequences of characters, such as name, address, place of residence etc.;) is applied on or in the respective security and/or valuable document. This may take place for instance in the form of colored or black and white imprints or laser engraving. Alternatively or additionally, this or other person-specific information may, however, also be stored in an electronic circuit integrated in the security and/or valuable document, and then the electronic circuit or the information contained therein can be read by authorized persons. Further, other electronic components can also be integrated in the document for storing and displaying information, e.g., a display module.
The personalization can be made in a centralized manner or in a decentralized manner. In the centralized personalization manner, the personalized information is determined and transmitted to a manufacturer of the security and/or valuable document. The latter then applies the personalized information in or on the security and/or valuable document during the production and completion thereof. In the decentralized personalization manner, the manufacturer of the security and/or valuable document supplies a non-personalized blank to one or several personalization locations away from the manufacturer, which carry out the determination of the personalized information and apply it on or in the blank thus completing the security and/or valuable document. If applicable, this process is complemented by the final application of an uppermost protective film. Furthermore, there is the possibility of a semi-decentralized personalization option, wherein the manufacturer supplies the non-personalized blanks to one or several personalization locations away from the manufacturer, which obtain the personalized information from collection locations away from the manufacturer and/or the personalization locations and issue the personalized security and/or valuable documents.
From the patent documents DE 2 907 004 C2, DE 3 151 407 C1 and EP 0 219 011 B1, different methods for laser marking of security and/or valuable documents are known in the art. By such methods, personalized information can be integrated in internal layers of a security and/or valuable document thus protecting it very well against manipulations. However, by means of this method, the integration of colored personalized information, such as, e.g., of fully colored passport photographs, is not possible.
From the documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,312, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,527, U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,141, U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,013, U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,429 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,296, different methods for producing security and/or valuable documents are known in the art, wherein an inkjet printed layer is applied to a completed blank and then, if applicable, a protective paint is applied and the inkjet printed layer is protected against mechanical and/or chemical damages or manipulations. These methods are, therefore, basically suited for the decentralized personalization option. By these methods, colored personalized information can be applied to the security and/or valuable document, however, the resulting very superficial arrangement for this kind of joining does not provide a sufficient security against manipulations of the personalized information, since the protective film is not monolithically bound to the substrate.